Designer's Block
Designer's Block from Roi Jeric Bautista
Designer's Block

Designer's Block is a product solution to the current experience of creating design mock-ups. It was found that current paradigms for creating mock-ups have the potential to hinder the overall design process, since existing methods can be messy and wasteful in both time and materials. Furthermore, the mock-up process is very important to pushing an idea forward during its infancy, yet it is often approached as something crude and primitive.

The solution, Designer's Block, aims to allow users to effectively communicate design ideas quickly and efficiently. It promotes the current objectives of the mock-up process while cutting down on the negative aspects associated with current paradigms. Through the use of pleasantly tactile and high quality materials, Designer's Block lifts the act of making mock-ups from an obligatory, yet not totally enjoyable experience to one that is satisfying and pleasant.

Partners: Rebecca Radparvar

The final design includes an engraved or debossed title.
Closed prototype.
Quick prototypes and mock-ups were made to determine what shapes would be used, how to use magnets, what types of magnets to use, etc.
Prototypes of building blocks were made out of laser-cut frosted acrylic and embedded with magnets.
Rendering of some of the shapes organized together.
Rendering of some of the shapes organized together.
Visual and functional prototype to help understand how a user would interface with the product and also how the components physically fit together.
Another angle of the visual and functional prototype.
Keyshot rendering of SolidWorks models displaying how a typical use might look like with the Designer's Block.
Different angle demonstrating work space.
Rendering of different angle demonstrating work space.
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Designer's Block

Designer's Block is a product solution to the current experience of creating design mock-ups. It was found that current paradigms for creating mock-ups have the potential to hinder the overall design process, since existing methods can be messy and wasteful in both time and materials. Furthermore, the mock-up process is very important to pushing an idea forward during its infancy, yet it is often approached as something crude and primitive.

The solution, Designer's Block, aims to allow users to effectively communicate design ideas quickly and efficiently. It promotes the current objectives of the mock-up process while cutting down on the negative aspects associated with current paradigms. Through the use of pleasantly tactile and high quality materials, Designer's Block lifts the act of making mock-ups from an obligatory, yet not totally enjoyable experience to one that is satisfying and pleasant.

Partners: Rebecca Radparvar

Roi Jeric Bautista
CSWP, BS Mechanical Engineering - Design, Innovation, and Society, RPI... Houston, TX